Aam Aadmi Party MLA Gopal Italia claims police intimidation at his Surat home, while authorities state they were serving a court warrant related to a case in Mehsana, sparking controversy.
Key Points
- AAP MLA Gopal Italia alleges Gujarat police intimidated his family at his Surat residence.
- Police claim the visit was to serve a non-bailable warrant issued by a Mehsana court.
- The warrant relates to a criminal case involving unlawful assembly and violation of Epidemic Diseases Act.
- Police procedure requires visiting the accused's residence to execute warrants, according to e-Summons guidelines.
- Italia accuses Home Minister Harsh Sanghvi of orchestrating the police action to harass his family.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Gopal Italia on Tuesday accused the police of visiting his residence in Gujarat's Surat and threatening and intimidating his family members, while the investigators maintained that the visit was aimed at serving a court warrant to him.
Italia represents the Visavadar assembly constituency in Junagadh district.
In a post on X, Italia alleged, "Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghvi has crossed all limits today. This morning, Sanghvi sent police to my home in Surat in an attempt to intimidate and threaten my elderly mother. The police misbehaved with my mother."
"They even openly tried to indirectly intimidate the society's security guard by asking questions like "When does Gopal come? When does he leave?" he added.
Police Response: Warrant Service
However, Surat Commissioner of Police Anupam Singh Gahlaut told PTI that the visit to his house in Surat was a routine procedure in relation to the non-bailable warrant issued by a civil court in Mehsana in a case.
The process was carried out on Tuesday by a police head constable, he said.
In an official statement, the police said that Third Additional Civil Judge and Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC), Mehsana, B R Kariya, had issued a non-bailable warrant in a criminal case registered at the Mehsana City A Division police station under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 341 (wrongful restraint), 188 (disobeying an order lawfully promulgated by a public servant), 269 (negligent acts), and section 3 of the Epidemic Diseases Act.
As per the e-Summons application used for coordination between the court and the police department, summons/warrants are to be served accordingly. Based on this procedure, the summons/warrant is sent via the e-Summons application to the concerned police station corresponding to the address mentioned in the charge sheet of the accused, it added.
According to the e-Summons procedure, the officer responsible for serving the summons/warrant must visit the residential address of the accused to execute it, the statement said.
If the accused is not found at the address, photographs of the residence must be taken and uploaded to the e-Summons application, it added.
A copy of the warrant shared by the police mentioned arresting Italia and producing him before the court.
"Gopal Italia stands charged with the offence, you are hereby directed to arrest the said and produce him before the court," read the court warrant.
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